A Sacred COW

The last time I felt a similar sense of belonging and being a part of something really HUGE was when I watched for the first time the Future of Money video around a year ago.

It seems obvious to me that young people everywhere are not happy with what they see is the state of our world. They understand this state in a way that very few people previously understood. Part of this is the ubiquity of the internet. Part of it is their sense that they can trust each other via social media much more than they can many of the companies, politicians, and organizations that surround them in their real-life communities.

But another part of their newfound understanding is due to the tenuous state of our world. Environmentally, it seems that we are on the brink of ecological catastrophe. Economically, it seems that there is no end to the greed that motivates the few to punish and persecute the many. Militarily, it seems that the mighty continue to fuel instability in the lands of the less mighty in order to continue to maintain control of energy resources. Politically, it seems that we can only elect people who are willing to pander to the corporate elite and continue the fiscal pyramid scheme that Wall Street propagates. Socially, it seems that the gates of the Gentlemen’s Clubs are closed permanently as the wealthy get older and the older live longer and healthier lives.

When G.W. Bush used the term “Coalition of the Willing”, he referred, of course, to the countries who supported, militarily or verbally, the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent military presence in post-invasion Iraq. The irony is that many of the nations in the coalition had their political arms twisted, included countries that do not have standing armies, and was eventually the butt of the joke that its acronym, COW, refers to the situation that the United States is being milked as a “cash cow”.

ExPrime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair shaking hands with President of the United States, George W. Bush, after they conclude a joint news conference at the Camp David (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But now, a new Coalition of the Willing is beginning to emerge that is truly a coalition of people who are willing to plan and act with the future at stake. This new COW is, firstly, a collaborative animated film and web-based event – an online war against global warming in a ‘post Copenhagen’ world.

The film is a collaborative effort of 24 artists from around the world. This is, in itself, a feat that probably could not have happened a mere decade ago. If it could, it would have taken years to create. I have no idea how long it took these artists to collaborate on the 15-minute film, but I assume it has been created over a period of a few months – or even weeks. Full details on the 24 collaborators can be found on the COW Website.